IAF upgrading facilities in northeast: Air chief

KALAIKUNDA - The Indian Air Force (IAF) is upgrading its capabilities in the northeastern region of the country by revamping eight advance landing grounds and improving major airfields, Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik said Tuesday.

“We are going for composite upgradation of capabilities in the northeast. It should have been done a long time ago. Eight advance landing grounds are being upgraded and there are five to six major air fields where infrastructure will be improved to enable them to receive more modern aircraft,” Naik said here, some 140 km from Kolkata.

The air capabilities in the country’s northern part will be upgraded next, the air chief said.

“A lot of things have happened on ground,” Naik said while briefing the media about the ongoing India-Britain joint air exercise.

The final phase of the India-Britain joint air exercise - Indradhanush - began Oct 28 at Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district, and will continue till Nov 3.

An empowered committee, headed by the vice chief of IAF Air Marshal P.K. Barbora, was overseeing the project.

Naik also said that the Mark-II version of the indigenous state-of-the-art light combat aircraft (LCA) should be operational in the next two-three years after the process of selecting better engines is completed.

“LCA has taken a long way to come to the stage where it is now. By middle of the next year, LCA Mark-I will be inducted into the operationalised squadrons. At the same time, the process of selection of engine for LCA Mark-II is nearing completion,” he said.